You need three comma rules to write professional police reports. This jargon-free video will teach you Comma Rule 1 – the rule you’ll use most often in your reports.
You need three comma rules to write professional police reports. This jargon-free video will teach you Comma Rule 1 – the rule you’ll use most often in your reports.
My son had to withdraw from his police academy due to report writing. They encouraged him to return in the fall because he excelled at the other aspects of the program. I am a voracious reader and never really had this problem. I would appreciate any information to help him. He is recently married and I know he feels horrible about dropping the course. His first report writing class went well but the second was a dismal failure.
I’m sorry about the difficulties – but it’s great that they encouraged him to come back! It’s odd that he did well in the beginning but then ran into a roadblock. Did they tell him what the difficulty was? Does he still have any of the work he did so that you can figure out where the problems lie?
Most police reports require simple, straightforward sentences. So the first question to ask is how he did in his English courses in school. If his writing skills are good, you need to figure out whether there were other requirements that caused difficulty. Some students have trouble understanding the objectivity requirement. Others use outdated and overblown word choices…and sometimes there are other problems.
I have free report writing videos at http://www.policereportvideos.com. They’re short and practical, and many instructors and recruits have told me how useful they are.
May I recommend my book, Criminal Justice Report Writing? He can do the pretest (there’s an answer key) to diagnose where the problems lie and then work on the relevant chapters. Or he can just work through the first part of the book, which explains step-by-step how to write reports. (Answers are provided for every exercise.)
You can write me at jreynoldswrite @ aol.com if you identify specific issues and would like additional suggestions. Tell him he has my best wishes for his future career – and congratulations on his marriage!